Mud beads

Yu Zhu went to Nong Ning Tea as usual in the evening.

After the rain stopped, the streets weren't completely dry, and the anti-slip mats in front of the shops were soaked with dirty water. Every time someone stepped on them, their shoes left a black mark. She changed into her work clothes, tucked her short hair behind her ears, and stood behind the counter. The takeout receipt was ejected from the machine, and she reached out to tear it, her fingers almost disobeying her.

After Liang Xia finished replenishing the pearls and came out of the reserve area, she looked up at her and asked, "Why is your face so red?"

"It's a bit stuffy today," Yu Zhu said.

"Shut up, my foot." Liang Xia placed the back of her hand on her forehead, her brows immediately furrowing. "Are you running a fever?"

Yu Zhu shook her head slightly to avoid the attack: "It's nothing."

"I've discovered you're incredibly stubborn." Liang Xia ripped the sticker off the cup and stuck it on the cup, then took the cup back into the kitchen. "Health is the foundation of everything, you know? You can always earn more money, but how many lives do you have?"

Yu Zhu noticed there weren't enough straws on the bar, so she bent down to get some from the counter. She felt dizzy again as she bent over. She quickly regained her balance and said, "It's Friday today, it's crowded."

Liang Xia took out the milk tea she had made, stared at her for two seconds, and then stopped arguing. She just said coldly, "You put on the label, don't touch the hot water."

Yu Zhu hummed in agreement.

The evening rush hour comes very quickly.

School was on holiday, and several new restaurants had opened across the street, making the road near the east gate as crowded as a bus stop during rush hour. Stylishly dressed young women chatted in booths, while two delivery drivers checked their phones while urging customers to hurry up with their orders. The restaurant was filled with the aromas of steam, milk, and sugary drinks, and the trash can in the corner quickly overflowed with sealing film and empty cardboard boxes.

Yu Zhu was able to hold on at first.

She affixed the labels, inserted the straws into the bags, and pushed the drinks to the counter. Some people ordered less ice, some ordered three-tenths sugar, and some asked why they weren't ready yet. Voices crowded in from all directions, mingling with the roar of the ice machine, making everyone's scalp tingle.

By the time she reached the sixtieth cup, the words in front of her began to float.

She read number 68 instead of number 66.

Liang Xia grabbed her hand that was packing the package: "You're wrong."

Yu Zhu paused for a moment and looked at the receipt again.

"Stop working here." Liang Xia finally couldn't hold back anymore and pushed her towards the back door. "If you keep working like this, the store will get ten more customer complaints today."

"I'll pack these drinks up first."

"No need, no need," Liang Xia waved her away. "If you stay at the shop today, Sister Liao really won't dare to hire you tomorrow. Go away."

This statement works.

Yu Zhu walked to the changing area, took off her apron, folded it, and put it in the locker.

The hourly wage for making lemon tea wasn't high, but it was stable. Her rent, utilities, and food expenses all came from this job. Her part-time job at Jinyuan was gone, and she had very little money left in her account; she couldn't afford to lose this job too.

As she walked to the back door, she heard another series of ticket clicks behind her. Liang Xia shouted at the front desk, "Number 69, double-flavor milk tea, is ready!"

Yu Zhu turned around and glanced back.

Liang Xia was so busy she barely had time to breathe, and she kept complaining, "The double-portion comes with three extra toppings, is this what you call porridge?"

Someone in the shop chuckled.

Yu Zhu also slightly curved the corners of her mouth. The next second, a gust of wind from outside the door blew her smile away completely.

She did not go to the hospital.

Registering at the hospital involves queuing, blood tests, X-rays, and medication; she didn't have that much time or money. Yu Zhu glanced at the navigation at the intersection and finally turned into a small clinic at the end of the street. A section of the light bulb above the entrance was broken, and only half of the words "Community Convenience Clinic" were lit. Red words for fever reduction, cough, and gastrointestinal discomfort were pasted on the glass door.

There weren't many people in the clinic.

An old man sat dozing in the infusion area, a bandage on the back of his hand. A television hung in the corner, its volume low, showing a group of people laughing around a hot pot. A young nurse in a pink uniform at the front desk scrolled through short videos, her laughter blaring from the speakers.

The doctor asked her, "Where does it hurt?"

Yu Zhu sat on a plastic stool, feeling dizzy: "My throat hurts, my heart is racing, and I think I have a slight fever."

"Hmm, there have been quite a few bacterial infections lately." The doctor scanned her forehead with a thermometer. "Wow, 39.1 degrees Celsius. This won't do; you need an IV."

Yu Zhu nodded obediently: "Then let's get an IV drip."

"Any drug allergies?" The doctor wrote on a piece of paper, head down. "Penicillin works faster."

Yu Zhu thought for a moment.

She rarely got sick. The few times Liu Guizhen praised her, it was always "sturdy and easy to take care of." Back in the countryside, colds and fevers were mostly treated by sweating it out; if it got serious, they'd go to the village clinic for a few packets of powdered medicine—a folded white paper packet—no one would tell them what the ingredients were. She thought for a moment and said, "Probably not."

"Okay." The doctor looked up at her. "I'll prescribe some fever reducer, give you some antibiotics, and you'll be fine after a good night's sleep."

Yu Zhu took out her phone to pay the bill and nodded in response, "Okay, thank you."

The nurse started an IV drip on her. Clear medicine dripped slowly from the bottle, flowing through a thin tube into her vein. Yu Zhu sat on the blue IV chair, eyes closed, trying to rest, but her head was still dizzy. The old man next to her woke up, coughed twice, phlegm stuck in his chest, his voice hoarse. Someone rode by on an electric scooter outside the clinic, the screech of brakes drawn out.

At first, it was just an itch in my palms.

Yu Zhu thought it was just the tape that was uncomfortable, so she raised her hand to bear it. After a while, the itch crawled from her palm to her wrist, and her ears started ringing. The voices on the TV seemed to come closer and closer. She wanted to call the nurse, but when she opened her mouth, her tongue felt like it had been burned, and she couldn't utter a complete sound.

She looked down at the needle. The skin on the back of her hand swelled up rapidly, and a rash spread upwards along her wrist bone.

Her heart pounded faster and faster. Yu Zhu used her unused hand to slap the chair armrest, making a loud thud on the plastic edge. The receptionist was still looking down, her phone emitting exaggerated laughter.

Yu Zhu kicked the IV stand next to her feet hard.

The metal frame slammed into the wall with a loud clang.

The nurse finally looked up impatiently: "What's wrong?"

Yu Zhu looked at her, her lips moving slightly.

No sound.

The next second, his body swayed, and the ceiling and floor flipped over. The IV drip was violently shaken, the needle slipped out of the back of his hand, and beads of blood rolled down his skin.

Moth

When I woke up again, the ceiling was blindingly white.

Yu Zhu kept her eyes open for a while before realizing she wasn't at the clinic.

The air smelled of disinfectant, cleaner yet stronger than in the small clinic. The machines beside the bed beeped rhythmically, the bedside lamp was dimmed, and the curtains were drawn, revealing only a sliver of the city night. Her hand was reinserted with an injection, the bandage applied smoothly, and red marks of a rash remained on her other wrist.

"woke up?"

Someone walked over from the side.

The nurse bent down to look at her pupils, then at the monitor: "Don't move. You're allergic to penicillin; that was very dangerous. A skin test is always required before an injection, understand?"

Yu Zhu wanted to say thank you or sorry, but her throat was so dry that she could only manage a few breathy sounds.

The nurse inserted a straw into the water glass, raised the headboard, and helped her drink a couple of sips: "The small clinic was terrified. Luckily, your phone wasn't locked, so they were able to contact your boyfriend and get it delivered in time."

Boy friend?

Yu Zhu, with a straw in her mouth, froze.

She slowly turned her eyes.

In the corner of the ward sat a beige sofa, where Toru Etsuma sat, looking down at his phone. He wore a gray suit, a black shirt, and his tie was undone and draped over the armrest. He seemed to have come from a formal occasion; his cufflinks were still fastened, and his watch gleamed coldly under the light.

Noticing her gaze, he put down his phone and looked up at her.

Her eyebrows were slightly raised, and a faint smile played at the corners of her mouth.

Yu Zhu's lips parted, and the water from the straw fell back into the cup.

The nurse, oblivious to her reaction, bent down again to adjust the IV drip rate: "Don't worry, your boyfriend has taken care of all the paperwork. Just observe her overnight, and if everything goes well, she can be discharged tomorrow."

Echigo Koshima stood up and walked to the foot of the bed, his tall figure casting a shadow on the bed.

"Thank you for your help." His tone was gentle and polite. "Will she repeat herself tonight?"

The nurse avoided his gaze: "The vital signs have stabilized, but we can't be careless about the allergic reaction. Keep a close eye on him tonight, and we'll see what the doctor says during rounds tomorrow morning."

"Okay, thank you," said Toru Echizen.

"It's alright, you've worried too much." The nurse glanced at him, her tone softening. "Don't worry too much, just press the call button if you need anything."

After the nurse finished speaking, she pushed the treatment tray out. Yuejian Tetsu walked to the door ahead of her and gentlemanly opened the door for her.

Yu Zhu looked at the scene before her quietly, her hand holding the water glass slowly tightening.

Toru Eshima is an impeccable performer.

He can easily gain the favor and trust of those around him if he wants to.

The door closed gently.

The ward fell silent.

All that politeness, attentiveness, and patience vanished with the nurse's footsteps outside the door. When Yuejian looked at her again, the gentle warmth in his eyes faded, revealing a deep-seated coldness.

He walked to the bedside, pulled up a chair, and sat down.

It's not far.

He smelled faintly of alcohol, along with a slight hint of tobacco. Yu Zhu subconsciously scooted a little deeper into the pillow, but the syringe was pulling on the back of her hand, and with the slightest movement, the tape ripped from her skin.

Toru Echizen glanced at the needle in her hand, then looked at her pale face.

"Five hundred and fifty thousand," he said with a smile. "Quite a quick turnaround."

Yu Zhu's eyelashes fluttered.

On the monitor, the heart rate was getting faster and faster.

"Don't be nervous." Echizen Toru seemed to need no answer from her. He raised his hand and slowly tapped the bed railing with his fingertips, the metal making a soft sound. "Have you ever heard the story of the fox and the goat?"

Yu Zhu put the cup back on the bedside table, closed her eyes, pulled her arms back under the covers, and resolved not to speak again.

Her face still had the flush of a high fever, and her lips were dry and tightly pursed.

Looking at her stubborn face, Echizen Toru leaned closer and lowered his voice.

"From Aesop's Fables," he said, tucking the blanket around himself, his tone almost gentle. "A fox was on its way when it slipped and fell into a dry well. When it was at its wit's end, a thirsty male goat passed by the well. The fox lured it into the deep well, climbed out by stepping on the goat's back, and then ran away alone, leaving the goat trapped at the bottom of the well."

Echizen's voice was low and deep, telling the story in a gentle, soothing way, much like a father telling his daughter a bedtime story. But Yu Zhu listened with her eyes closed, her mind growing increasingly alert.

Tetsuya Koshima continued, "The fox betrayed its companions and was captured after passing through a hunter's trap, paying the price for its betrayal."

His hand left the corner of the blanket and slowly caressed the girl's full yet pale face on the hospital bed, as if filled with boundless tenderness.

Yu Zhu felt the heat on her cheek and suddenly opened her eyes. The next second, she saw Yue Jianche's brooding eyes, and her body stiffened.

"Do you think the fox and the goat in the story are like us?" His hand stopped at her lips, slowly caressing them. "You are that fox, climbing out of the dry well by stepping on my back, thinking of escaping on your own."

In bed, Yu Zhu felt her body begin to tremble uncontrollably. She reached out and touched the call button for the nurse, but her fingertips were firmly grasped by Yue Jianche's hand as soon as they touched the cold button.

He and she held hands.

"Yu Zhu, haven't you had enough of your rebellious games yet?"